Gene Hackman, a celebrated actor whose death at 95 was announced on Thursday, stood out in Hollywood for his ability not to stand out.
Not until he was 42 did he make his star turn, winning the Oscar for best actor for playing a gruff narcotics detective in “The French Connection.” But at that point he already had more than 30 television and film credits and a reputation for charming intensity that would stay with him throughout his career.
A tall man with thinning hair and a deep voice that was befitting a former Marine, he is easily remembered for distinctive mustaches and tweed jackets. Yet he was equally convincing in roles as a paranoid communications expert, an archnemesis of a superhero, a big-hearted basketball coach, a sinister sheriff and an eccentric patriarch of a family of troubled geniuses.
And if he seemed to some to have appeared out of nowhere in the 1970s as a fully formed star, he disappeared just as abruptly, doing one final film in 2004 and then walking away without any formal declaration that he had retired. He spent his remaining years in Santa Fe, N.M., painting and sculpting and staying out of the spotlight.
He was Hollywood’s Everyman, but had a career — and a life — that few could even attempt to recreate.
Mr. Hackman made an impression on Warren Beatty in 1964 despite a small part in the film “Lilith.” Mr. Beatty subsequently brought Mr. Hackman along for “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), in which he managed to thrive in a cast that included, from left, Estelle Parsons, Mr. Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Pollard. The performance earned Mr. Hackman an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.